T&T’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste will be action today when she lines-up against two-time Olympic champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica in the women’s 100 metres at the Areva Meeting in Paris, today. Baptiste, the season leader with a time of 10.83, will also be challenged by American rising star English Gardner in one of the meet’s feature event. Usain Bolt is looking to build confidence for the world championships in Moscow by racing in the 200m. In the ninth leg of the Diamond League, Bolt will take on Jamaican compatriots Warren Weir, Nickel Ashmeade and Jason Young, along with former European 200 champion Christophe Lemaitre of France. All five sprinters have run below 20 seconds. “I’m just trying to make sure I get a couple of results before the championships,” Bolt said yesterday, “and get the routine right when the championships come, because that’s what really matters.”
Bolt is the 200m world record-holder and has won the last two world and Olympic titles. He has the second-best time this season, 19.79 seconds at the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 13.
Tyson Gay ran the fastest 200 this year, 19.74 at the US trials on June 23. Although Gay wasn’t in Paris, Bolt was not underestimating the competition. “I never said I’m invincible,” he said. “When I’m in great shape and I’m at the top of my game, I’m very confident that no one can beat me because I know what I’m capable of.” Weir ran 19.79 in Kingston last month to win the Jamaican trials. In May, the Olympic bronze medallist also won the 200 in Shanghai and New York.
In the men’s 400, world and Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada said he was looking forward to another race with LaShawn Merritt of the United States. James believed the more he’s pushed the longer he’ll be motivated. “(I’m) just trying to stay consistent and just trying to be around this sport as long as I possibly can,” James said. “I don’t want to be a two-year or three-year wonder and people wondering what happened to Kirani.” James ran a season-best 44.02 to beat Merritt in Shanghai on May 18. But the American took his revenge in Eugene, Oregon on June 1. Merritt won the Olympic gold in 2008 and the world title in 2009 before completing in 2011 a 21-month suspension for failing a doping test.